A golf website ranked Clackamas County’s Stone Creek Golf Course as one of three top eco-friendly courses in the country.

The blog, The Daily Tee, listed Stone Creek because the designers created wildlife corridors so the course wouldn’t disrupt animals’ travel too much. The website also applauds Stone Creek for its pest control method, that minimizes pesticide use, and how staff allows the outer portions of the course to grow naturally.

The Daily Tee is the blog of GolfNow, a website that locates golf courses across the country and allows users to book tee times.

Oregonian reporter Eric Mortenson wrote about Portland-area golf courses going green in 2009. At the time, Stone Creek was setting the national standard for environmentally-conscious courses.

Owned by Clackamas County, the course has emerged as an environmental model for courses across the country. Under Phipps, the course won Environmental Leaders in Golf merit and regional awards from Golf Digest magazine from 2004-07, and in 2008 was named the nation's best public course in the same award category.

Stone Creek was named 2004-05 "Cooperator of the Year" by the Clackamas County Soil & Water Conservation District, and is one of Audubon International's certified sanctuaries. In June, Links magazine named Stone Creek to the eighth spot of its top 10 environmentally friendly courses, finishing one spot ahead of California's famed Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Driving the cart, Phipps points out some of the course's sustainable highlights. To save water, Stone Creek is using fine fescue grass seed blends on its fairways. Its 1,200 sprinkler heads can be individually programmed to put water only where it's needed.

"I think courses can be over-watered pretty easily," Phipps says. Reducing irrigation "makes the roots search for water, they go deeper, and the deeper they go the more drought-resistant they are."

Bubbling aerators, not chemicals, control algae bloom in ponds. Dead trees are left standing to attract insects, which in turn attract birds. On a bare hillside, Phipps points out holes that serve as underground nests for six species of native bees. A nearby sign explains the significance to passing golfers. Each year, Phipps and volunteer experts lead sixth-graders on a birding tour of the course.

When burrowing voles posed a problem, Phipps' crew erected a hawk perch in tall grass. The predators control the rodents. Bass in the ponds control mosquitoes and serve as osprey food. Twenty-two bird boxes are scattered about the course. Wildlife corridors of brush and trees allow larger animals to pass through the course undisturbed.

Many people have questioned why the county owns the golf course, saying the government shouldn’t be involved in the enterprise and should make it private.

The course is one of the only county parks endeavors that produces more revenue than it uses.

What do you think of Stone Creek? If you’ve played it, leave a comment below.